YouTube App Gets Overhaul Ahead of Apple iOS 6

If you’ve been following iOS 6 news, you already know that YouTube is expected not to appear in the latest version of Apple’s operating system for its mobile devices. That won’t affect people who already have the app, though, and any YouTube fans are about to get a treat. As of this morning, you can download a much-improved version of the video service for your iOS device.

So what’s new? For one thing, a YouTube channel guide appears when you swipe towards the right from the left edge of the iPhone screen. There are fifteen channels, covering a wide swath of popular types of videos: HowTo & Style, People & Blogs, Science & Technology, etc. Sign in, and your subscribed channels also appear.

You can see the YouTube channel guide by swiping from left to right.

YouTube is also touting search suggestions, which help you complete searches faster, and updated sharing tools so you can get the word out about that cute cat video. YouTube also says it has “Tens of thousands” of additional videos, including more official music videos.

At the moment, the existing YouTube app doesn’t automatically update to the new version, which means you’ll need to look it up in the app store and download it. YouTube says it has an update app for the iPad in the works, but warns fans to expect it “in the coming months.”